Amazon has partnered up with cross-border, cross-currency payment
company Western Union to make it easier for online shoppers to buy items
from abroad. Customers in select countries will be able to shop on Amazon
and pay in person, in their local currency, at a Western Union
shop.

“There are people in the world who want greater access to
Amazon’s huge product selection but paying for those purchases has been a
real obstacle for many customers”, said Western Union’s President and CEO,
Hikmet Ersek, in a statement. “We’re leveraging our platform to make it
easier to shop global and pay local”.

The two companies are eyeing
the growth of cross-border shopping, which has been forecasted by Forrester
Research to make up 20 percent of all e-commerce by 2002, with sales
reaching 630 million dollars.